Recipe: Oven-Grilled Barbeque Chops with Gravy

This is probably one of the easiest meals to prepare.

Barbeque Chops:

1. Sprinkle garlic salt on the barbecue chops and place on an oven tray.
2. Leave it for 15 minutes.
3. Pour 2-3 spoons of olive oil.
4. Pour half a cup of water to avoid dryness of meat.
5. Oven-grill at 180-200 degrees for 40 minutes on each side.

Gravy:

1. Boil 3 tablespoons of Gravox Traditional Powder in 250ml water.
2. Mix in 2 tablespoons of butter/margarine and 3 tablespoons of red wine.
3. Stir for a few minutes until smooth.

-o0o-

Sidings for my Barbeque Chops: my Creamy Baked Potato and Green Salad with Italian Dressing.

Bon Appetit!

{my first entry to Food Trip Friday Photo Meme}

Mamma Mia! is Coming Back to Sydney

Honey honey, how you thrill me, ah-hah, honey honey
"Honey honey, nearly kill me, ah-hah, honey honey
I'd heard about you before
I wanted to know some more
And now I know what they mean, you're a love machine
Oh, you make me dizzy..."

In celebration of its 10th anniversary since it's world premiere,

Mamma Mia! The Musical

is coming back to Sydney!!!!

Sign up to waitlist for the opportunity to purchase tickets. Click here.

Canon's All-in-One Printer

After 200 years, I finally, finally, finally had my fisheye lomo pics developed.

The first roll of film turned one year old this April hehehe---coz those were taken during our Singapore trip.

We dropped by Westpoint today and picked up my photos. Then I realized we don't have a scanner. And since I'm planning to build up my Lomography portfolio this year, I asked Husband if he could buy me a Canon All-in-One Printer.

He bought me the Canon MP240. It can print documents, photocopy, scan and print digital photographs.

We printed a couple of photos (it came with free photo paper) and it turned out great. Like it was printed from a photo printing center. Aliw!!!

Incidental Meet-up with Cathy

An incidental stopover at Westpoint before going home this afternoon led me to seeing my schoolmate from high school, Cathy.

Isa lang masasabi ko...finally!!!!

At dahil di sinasadya ang pagkikita namin, walang choice kungdi mag-picture-picture sa harap ng Coles hehe.

Windy Day at Blue Mountains

Yes, we were at the Blue Mountains again :), this time we took my parents.

It was a very windy day...as in "it-almost-tear-off-our-ears" windy. Notice how the trees swayed left as the wind blew hard.

Made my parents so cold, felt very winter for them.

We had to make them stay indoors every 15-20 minutes, give their body a rest from the cold wind outdoors.

I was very cold myself but that never stopped me from wanting to take photographs. So during one of their "indoor" break, I went out by myself and took photos of trees changing their colors.

Ahhhh, the beauty that is Autumn.

We had lunch at the Revolving Restaurant in Scenic World. The buffet costs about AUD$26.++ per adult which includes soup, salad, mains, dessert and coffee & tea...and the best view anyone can ever have when having lunch in Katoomba, Blue Mountains.

Another beautiful day in Blue Mountains.

KMart and McDo on a Friday Night

Friday after work, Chris was late for dinner at Bow's with the relatives and so when he got home, I told him I'd take him out to dinner. I had the longest week at work, stressed and tired, didn't have the energy to cook dinner for the Husband. Besides, I also didn't want to hang out at home after dinner. I wanted to unwind somewhere a bit.

First choice was to hang out at Starbucks but in the end, we decided to take my parents to KMart coz my Dad hasn't seen the place and we found out that they close late on weekends.

The place was nearly deserted when we arrived. Don't you just love it when it seemed you have the whole shop to yourself?

There was a lot of sale too. We were able to buy bathroom stuff at 25% off, Chris finally found bathroom carpets he liked. We also bought throw pillows for our bedroom at 40% off.

After a good hour of shopping, we finally took Chris to McDonald's for his dinner. While he had his Double Cheeseburger Meal, we had hot chocolate.

KMart on Fridays is Love.

24 hour McDonald's is Love.

27th at Starbucks

It's been a looooongggg while since we've celebrated our monthsary in Starbucks.

Last Monday was an accidental date...a "nakaw na sandali"...a few minutes of "us" time. Husband and I are so busy these days, we've only been having dessert dates lately (last month, we dropped by Max Brenner and had Belgian Waffles before going home).

There was no plan to go out really but we had to drop off some stuff at a friend's place in Mt Druitt. Then I remembered my cuzin mentioned something about a Starbucks branch there that she goes to to have late night coffee. Chris and I decided to check it out.

We arrived 30 minutes before closing. We just ordered hot chocolates for both of us. The barista added a big marshmallow on top, guess she was feeling generous.

The funny thing about this "date" was that we were both comfortably silent the whole time we were there. We were both just sipping our hot chocolates and stared at stuff such as this wall behind him.

I guess we're just really tired from all the gimiks we've been going to. Nevertheless, we enjoyed celebrating our monthsary in a familiar place, enveloped in the warmth and aroma of Starbucks' hot chocolate.

Lagare But Fun-Filled Weekend

I'm still tired from our "lagare" weekend (been having "lagare" days lately).

["Lagare" is a Filipino term. As an adjective, it is synonymous to "having a hectic schedule" or "being busy".]

Saturday lunch was at Hilda and Evan's birthday celebration. Picnic at Centennial Park in Randwick.

Saturday meryenda was at Joachim's 1st birthday party at Winston Hills.

Followed by an after-party bonding with my girls.

Sunday was fun day at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, a treat to my 7-year old cuzin Patrick.

Will upload photos and share our Royal Easter Show story soon.

My Photo on Schmap!! Sydney

My photo got published on Schmap!! Sydney .

At the start of 2009, I officially wished that someday an article or photo of mine gets published somewhere, either in print or online. Then this happened (yay!), never actually thought it would happen so soon, so I'm elated and actually very speechless last night when I saw the website.

Very timely too, as I'm contemplating of going back to using a Point&Shoot camera and forget about DSLR-ing (in layman's term: forget about using a DSLR). Maybe this is a sign that I should continue DSLR-ing?

More than anything else, I'd like to thank the Husband for being a very patient photography coach and for being my teammate extra-ordinaire (mwah!!!). Kumbaga sa kanta "he is the wind beneath my wings!" hahaha...ang corny!!! :P

Photo attached is a screenshot of the website. {Link}

Astroboy 2009 (Trailer)

Can't wait, can't wait.

The new Astroboy movie looks amazing.

I checked Greater Union for the list of coming soon movies in 2009 and didn't find Astroboy.

Either it won't be shown in Australia this year or my eyes are too tired coz it's already midnight and I'm still awake.

An Awesome Day at Taronga Zoo

Today was an awesome day!!!!!!

We were blessed to get free passes to Taronga Zoo today so Chris and I grabbed the opportunity (and took an emergency day-off) as something like this is a once in a lifetime chance to spend a day in Taronga Zoo for free (thanks to our family friend who gave us passes).

Taronga Zoo is the biggest zoo in Sydney and also the most expensive (AUD$41.00 per adult). Chris and I have never been to this zoo before. We really waited for my parents to visit and decided that it would be best to explore Taronga Zoo with them. Then came the surprise yesterday when a family friend told us that he got us passes for today.

Located in the north side of the harbour (hence, the very nice view of the Sydney cityscape), Taronga Zoo is home to more than 2,660 animals.

The zoo is segregated in different areas:

(1) Wild Australia where you can find your Aussie favorites: Kangaroos, Koalas and Emus.

(2) Australian Nightlife where you can find Bats and Rats. This was a scary area for me. It was so dark inside this cave-like rooms, then they have this sound effects that you usually hear when you watch a horror movie.

(3) Great Southern Oceans where you can the Penguins, Pelicans and...

...Seals!!!

We watched the Seal Show at 11:00AM and it was very entertaining. It was so fun watching them, they're so smart and funny.

Near the Great Southern Oceans area is where you can find the Gorillas. They weren't particularly a member of any area, but they are placed in the middle of the zoo.

(4) Wild Asia is where you can find the Elephants!!!!

This photo was taken during the Elephant show at 1:00PM. This was also an entertaining show.

(5) African Waterhole was our last stop as we wanted to save the best for last---this is where you can find the Zebras...

and the high-and-mighty Giraffes!!! I love them...I was soooo in awe of their cuteness.

I want to bring one home!!! hehe.

Some animals (like the Tigers and Bears) were asleep during lunchtime, probably because they just had lunch and were too full, hence, it made them sleepy (parang tao rin hehe). So we didn't have decent pictures of those sleepyheads.

We spent a good five hours in Taronga Zoo and I felt like a kid the whole time we were there, especially that we're with my parents. It reminded me of our trips to Manila Zoo when I was a kid. I vaguely remember the animals and the place but I remember the feeling of hanging out with my parents and being a kid in awe of the spectacle of nature infront of me.

This is a very memorable experience for me as for the past two years, I've dreamt of sharing my love for the zoo with my parents. Chris and I have been to zoos in other countries but this one tops them all, simply because we shared this awesome experience with my parents.

Photos of animals courtesy of my Husband Chris.

For That Perfect Round Fried Eggs

For that perfect round sunny-side up fried eggs, we use Egg Rings at home. I'm not fussy when it comes to the shape of my fried eggs, however, my Husband is. He wants them perfectly round (like the ones he eats at Mc Donald's) so he bought me these Egg Rings as soon as we moved to our new place last year.

An egg ring is used to contain the egg in a perfectly round shape while it cooks. This tool is also useful when you want to cook more eggs in the pan at the same time as it keep the eggs from spreading in the pan. It is usually made of stainless steel and some have attached handles that allow the rings to be lifted easily from the pan.

Some tips on how to achieve a perfectly round fried egg:

1. Before placing the egg ring on the frying pan, lightly grease the inside of the egg rings with butter or oil to avoid cooked eggs to stick too much to your egg rings.

2. For eggs cooked sunny-side up and you are not confident with your egg-cracking ability, crack each egg on a small bowl first before placing the egg on their individual egg ring. For those who want to perfect cracking an egg, all you need is practice. For me, it's having a gentle but firm hand when cracking an egg.

3. Cooking eggs using Egg Rings usually take a longer time than the usual, about three to five minutes. Keep in mind that eggs are thicker when cooked in egg rings, so it requires more cooking time.

4. The longer the egg is cooked, the browner the bottom of the egg will become. I usually lower the heat so the bottom won't burn.

5. You can also use Egg Rings for scrambled eggs, perfect for a breakfast sandwich made with an English Muffin.

6. Remove Egg Rings before serving your fried eggs.